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Menu Plan Monday {Meal Inspiration Ideas}

November 30, 2010 By 2 Comments


I hope all my U.S. readers had a nice Thanksgiving! I am lucky in that we celebrate with family so I’m usually just bringing a dessert or two or a side dish. Here’s what’s on the menu for us this week:

Monday: Chicken Tettrazini casserole; garden salad
Tuesday: BBQ meatballs with homemade mac ‘n cheese; carrot sticks
Wednesday: grilled Bourbon pork tenderloin; sweet potato fries; garden salad
Thursday: spaghetti sauce with spinach lasagna roll-upsFriday: leftovers
Saturday: special event-no cooking for me!
Sunday: out to eat/leftovers

All of these meals are coming out of my freezer. It’s great for our busy holiday activity evenings! What’s on your menu this week?

Filed Under: easy dinner recipes, freezer cooking, freezer meals, menu plan monday

Menu Plan Monday & Muffin Tin Monday {Meal Inspiration Ideas}

November 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

Gotta love my freezer meals! Here’s what’s on the menu at our house this week:

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken Panini
Tuesday: Spaghetti & Meatsauce; carrots sticks
Wednesday: Gumbo with Steamed Rice; garden salad
Thursday: Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry over Asian noodles
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Out To Eat
Sunday: Leftovers

What’s on your menu this week?

And I’ve got a bonus this week–Muffin Tin Monday! I’ve been following Michelle’s blog since discovering it this summer but have been pretty inconsistent about participating until this week. You see, the theme is Food Pyramid and that really appealed to me because of my recent obsession with adding more fruits and veggies to our diet. I have to say, this was much easier than it seemed at first. I made them for an afterschool snack for the kids. Here’s what I included:
Top Row: Carrot sticks, pita chips, sliced apples
Bottom Row: Cucumber slices, hummus, grapes

So easy and the kids loved it–they ate nearly all of it! I hope you’re inspired to try one of your own!

Filed Under: Eating The Alphabet, freezer meals, meal organizing, meal planning, menu plan monday

Menu Plan Monday! (on Tuesday)

November 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It finally got cold here in Texas so it’s time for some comfort food! Here’s what’s on the menu at our house this week:

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie (from freezer exchange group)
Tuesday: Shrimp Scampi Linguine (using Wildtree spice blend from recent order)
Wednesday: special activity–dinner-on-the-go/leftovers
Thursday: Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup (a favorite for our whole family–despite the fact that kids always seem to forget they like it–read about THAT here!)
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: out to eat
Sunday: leftovers/TBA

What’s on your menu this week?
Filed Under: freezer meals, kid-friendly, meal planning, picky eaters, quick fix meals

Menu Plan Monday! (on Tuesday)

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’m back! Well, at least more than I have been lately. The big PTO fundraiser that I was the chairperson for was this past weekend and I’m finally coming up for air. It was HUGE (we had more than triple the number of people attend than we expected!) and so much fun. And with the holiday season nearly upon us, I’ll be sharing some of my party planning tips in an upcoming post so watch for that.

I’m back in the kitchen a bit now too so here’s what’s on the menu this week:

Monday: Mediterranean Gourmet Hamburgers (from 30 Day Gourmet cookbook-can’t find a version online–served with sauteed mushrooms and spinach–the were yummy!)
Tuesday: Orange Ginger Pork chops, rice, steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Spaghetti sauce & Cheesy Roll-ups (these are from the freezer from a previous cooking session), garden salad
Thursday: Pepperoni Roll, garden salad
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: special activity–no cooking for me!
Sunday: Halloween traditional meal…All-American Chili & Mummy Hot Dogs
What’s on your menu this week? Happy cooking!
Filed Under: family meals, freezer meals, Freezer Meals, meal organizing, meal planning, orgjunkie

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like…the Holidays!!

September 24, 2010 By 1 Comment


Christmas is only 13 weeks away. From tomorrow. What!?! 13 weeks! While this may send some of you into a panic, never fear, I’ve got a plan for you! Whether it’s Christmas you’re celebrating, Hanukkah (starting the first week of December this year), or Thanksgiving (eight weeks away for American Thanksgiving or about a month away for my Canadian readers), you’ll be on the right track if you get started planning now so that you can actually enjoy the holidays and not stress out the whole season. (And even if you don’t celebrate any of these holidays, as I know I have many international readers who perhaps observe other holidays or at least not Thanksgiving, read on as you’ll no doubt find a few helpful things to follow).

Several years ago I discovered the site Organized Home and its sister site Organized Christmas (not just all about Christmas despite the name!). After my daughter’s first Christmas had come and gone I went searching for a solution that would help me feel more organized when the holidays came around so I could actually enjoy those special times with my family and not be stressed out with a seemingly endless to-do list. Add to that a birthday just days before Christmas, I needed a way to make those moments a bit more special and not lose my mind in the process!

Over those years I developed a Christmas Countdown Notebook. I think we all will have a continual list of “to-dos” but at least now I feel like I’m a little more prepared. The site has tons of free printables to help you get started on a six-week program to get your home ready for the holidays. For a more intensive plan (that includes cleaning and organizing around the home too), the Holiday Grand Plan may be the way to go for you.

As you can see, my notebook is nothing too fancy. It’s just a three-ring binder with dividers and page protectors or pages with three holes punched in them.


Stocking my freezer with meals ready to go was one of the first changes I made. The following year, a better plan to make more holiday cookies. The next year, finding recipes for food gifts to give to teachers, neighbors and as hostess gifts (my favorite are these gourmet nuts–soooo easy and everyone loves them!). Another year, hosting a cookie exchange was on my to-do list. Yep, you don’t have to do it all in one year but you gotta start somewhere, right? Of course, you don’t need to do any of it, but if you want to do some of it, planning ahead is the way to go.

I’ve got different tabbed sections to help me find what I need when I need it.


Besides the food related planning the notebook has given me, it also has helped me develop a way to make sure we have the right kind of shoes for everyone on Christmas Eve (ok, that didn’t actually happen, but I did almost have a near miss by not having dress shoes that fit my son for the annual photo I have taken of the kids for the holidays! Holiday Wardrobe Planner to the rescue!)

Is my system perfect? No. But do I feel like I’ve got a little more of plan for those things I want to do with and for my family and friends. You bet. I hope you’ve been inspired to get started planning for your holidays too now when things aren’t quite as hectic and you can take your time doing a little at time. Check back for some of the forms that I’ve tweaked a bit and made my own…you may find you’d like them too (right now, I’m having some technical issues getting them uploaded to the blog so hopefully soon!)

Enjoy and happy holidays! :-)

Filed Under: freezer cooking, freezer meals, holiday meal planning, holiday recipes, holidays, meal planning

Menu Plan Monday!

September 7, 2010 By 2 Comments


I know some of you just this week have kiddos starting back to school, but we’re starting our third week here and the calendar is already filling up. Having my meals planned is hopefully going to save my sanity a bit! All our meals this week are coming from the freezer so that I can clean it out a bit to make room for new meals! Here’s what’s on our menu this week:

Monday: Road trip home–Labor Day holiday weekend
Tuesday: Chicken Tetrazinni (made with lighter white sauce from 30 Day Gourmet); garden salad
Wednesday: Beef & Chicken fajitas with peppers & onions (made it up as a “kit” with everything included–just thaw, grill and serve!)
Thursday: Grilled Caesar Marinated chicken salad
Friday: special activity-out to eat
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: make your own pizza night

Last week I made the Fab Fish Fingers. We all liked the way they tasted and the kids gobbled them up. But the recipe calls for you to pan fry them and next time I might try baking them. Not sure what my problem was but the coating seemed to just slip off the fish…maybe too much egg mixture. For leftovers, I just reheated them in the toaster oven and that helped a bit. All in all, these were a much healthier and tastier version than the store-bought version.

How’s your meal planning this week?

Filed Under: freezer cooking, freezer meals, make ahead meals, meal planning, orgjunkie

I’m a Guest Poster at OrgJunkie.com!

August 12, 2010 By 2 Comments


I’ve got a Back-To-School series planned but am still getting some of the info. together so I wanted to let you know about my guest post on Org Junkie for “Organizing Your Freezer” (not super creative title I realize!)

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you no doubt know that I LOVE freezer cooking. In my guest post I share some tips for keeping track of it all! I’ll be doing an expanded series of that post here on my blog sometime in the future so be on the lookout for that!

And when you’re over there, be sure to explore the OrgJunkie site…you’ll no doubt learn something new and hopefully feel better for it because you’ll be more organized.

And speaking of guest posts, I’ve got a few guest posters lined up for the next few weeks to appear here on my blog while I’m on my blogging vacation (getting back into action soon though!). My guest posters will share ideas especially with Back-To-School in mind…healthy snack and lunchbox ideas, lunchbox packing tips with ways to make it fun (not just for kids either!) and a nutritionist who will share ideas about how kids can eat healthy at school even if their friends are not so much! Be on the look out for the guest posts starting tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: freezer cooking, freezer meals, meal organizing, organization, orgjunkie

Going Bananas! Freeze Your Extras {Kitchen Quick Tip!}

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here’s a tip I got from my dad who makes a fruit smoothie every day for breakfast! When you have extra bananas that are ripening faster than you can use them just peel ‘em and freeze ‘em!

Here’s the big tip though…slice your bananas on a cutting board or mat into 1-2″ chunks and then lay them on the mat and put into the freezer to freeze. When they are frozen, just throw them in a freezer bag or reusable container to grab what you need when you’re ready!

Sometimes I freeze the whole peeled banana and then I can thaw them out to use in banana bread or muffins (or other baked goods). The banana chunks are especially good for smoothies because the blender can “blenderize” them more easily than a whole frozen banana and they provide the “thickness” that ice might normally when making a smoothie. We don’t like ice in our smoothies so this is a great solution for an all fruit smoothie!

Thanks Dad, for this kitchen quick tip!

Filed Under: freezer cooking, freezer meals, fruits, kitchen quick tip

Menu Plan Monday!

May 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Still cleaning out the freezer but getting SO close to my big freezer cooking session hopefully later this week! Here’s what’s on our menu this week:

Monday: Pepperoni Pizza Roll (I made my own dough in the bread machine) and Garden Salad
Tuesday: Kofta Kebab Wraps with Tzatziki (yogurt sauce) (I have some ground lamb to use up)
Wednesday: Mediterranean Chicken Pasta Salad (I use shredded rotisserie chicken instead)
Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatsauce, garden salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Out to eat or leftovers!
Sunday: Mother’s Day–no cooking for me!

What’s on your menu this week?
Filed Under: easy dinner recipes, freezer cooking, freezer meals, make ahead meals, meal planning, OAMC

Spring Fever Has Hit–And My Meal Planning Takes A Dive!

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I don’t know about you but I have had a serious case of spring fever lately. Perhaps you’ve noticed the sparseness of my posts as an indication. Between youth sports (here in Texas, we started in March!), school programs and activities, helping the kids study for tests and gearing up for lots of end-of-year fun stuff PLUS the terrific weather we’ve been having here, I sure haven’t felt like cooking. And definitely not cleaning up afterwards!

But, what’s a busy woman to do who still wants to feed her family a healthy meal on the go and avoid the fast-food drive-thru? With my own freezer cooking session still a little bit aways (planning for to happen next week!), I remembered the freezer meal preparation store in my area and thought it was about time to drop in an pick up a few entrees. In my area we have Super Suppers and Dream Dinners. Each have different monthly menus and offer slightly different options when it comes to pricing. Since Super Suppers is closer to me that’s where I normally go. I like that I can choose my meals online and either go in a prepare them myself or normally, I just click, order and come in the next day to pick everything up and I’m on my way. Since my children are still young, we normally get the three person serving and that is enough for our family of four when I add a side or salad. For only $12 I can have a meal on the table in normally less than a half hour–you can’t really go through a drive through or out to eat for that amount. Even a large one topping pizza can cost more than that with delivery added! So that’s my solution for the time being

Thinking you’d like to get a few meals in your freezer for those busy spring evenings (or for days you just want to enjoy a night off!)? Check out this handy listing of all the freezer meal preparation stores in the U.S. and Canada (current as of January 2010) and you’re on your way.

Photo credit: Super Suppers

Filed Under: freezer meals, meal planning, meal planning service
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